Utah stifled by Houston in blowout loss

Runnin' Utes get shut down by the Cougars in double-digit loss

Houston Cougars guard Emanuel Sharp (21) drives to the basket against Utah Runnin' Utes forward Seydou Traore (0) during the first half at Jon M. Huntsman Center. | Rob Gray-Imagn Images

The Utah men's basketball team spent Tuesday night getting blitzed and stymied by a relentless Houston defense, resulting in a 66-52 loss for the Runnin' Utes (9-15, 1-10 Big 12) from the Huntsman Center.

The Cougars (22-2, 10-1 Big 12) led virtually the whole night as they rode the hot hand of Emanuel Sharp, who finished with 27 points on eight-made 3-pointers, while holding Utah to a season-low in points, field goals (20) and 3-pointers (2).

Here's how it went down at the Huntsman Center.

Houston's Sharpshooting

The traps and double-teams Utah threw at Houston's ballhandlers made it clear the Runnin' Utes weren't going to let Kingston Flemings and company beat them off the pick-and-roll.

As a result of Utah's aggressive defense around the ball, Houston's other perimeter players had a lot of room to work with, and no one took more advantage of the space granted to them than Sharp.

The senior guard — who entered Tuesday making over two 3-pointers per game — outpaced his seasonal average through the first 8 minutes of regulation, and then proceeded to put on an absolute clinic from behind the arc as Utah continued to lose track of the Cougars' top outside shooter.

Sharp drained six of his first seven attempts from long range, matching Utah's point total by himself and nearly tying his career-high (seven 3s) before Tuesday's contest reached the 8-minute media timeout.

Sharp needed another 5 minutes in the second half — and a clean look from NBA range — to set a new personal benchmark with his eighth 3-pointer of the night, putting Houston up, 48-29.

First Half Drought Proves Costly

Considering Houston's defensive pedigree, it was no secret Utah would more than likely have a hard time putting points on the board against the nation's second-best scoring defense on Tuesday.

The Runnin' Utes felt the Cougars' pressure from the get-go, though they didn't really start crumbling under it until midway through the first half.

More specifically, Utah had a harder time generating offense once Keanu Dawes checked out at around the 8-minute mark. The do-it-all forward had seven of his first team's 11 points, but wasn't able to help out much from the sidelines as the Runnin' Utes endured a scoring drought that ran from the 9:50 to 4:14 marks in the first half. During that stretch, Utah missed all six of its field goal attempts and committed a turnover.

Houston, meanwhile, put together a long-winded, 9-0 scoring run to push its lead to double-digits.

The Cougars didn't look back from there, and even managed to grow their lead through the first few minutes of the second half as Utah struggled to take care of the ball. The Runnin' Utes wound up committing 13 turnovers — six of which came through the first 6 minutes of the second — and the Cougars scored 20 points off those Utah miscues.

TB Shut Down

Not many teams have been able to slow down Utah's Terrence Brown, who entered Tuesday ranked No. 4 in the Big 12 and No. 12 nationally in scoring at 21.1 points per game.

But if anyone was going to have an answer for the 6-foot-3 guard, it would be the Cougars. That proved to be the case early on into Tuesday's matchup, as Utah's leading scorer found himself bottled up on just about every pick-and-roll and drive attempt.

Brown, whose first field goal didn't come until a fastbreak layup with 2 minutes left in the first half, wound up finishing with 12 points on 3-for-8 shooting from the field. His inefficient outing underscored the type of night it was for Utah offensively; the Runnin' Utes shot 20-for-45 from the field and 2-for-17 from 3, and had a stretch between the first and second halves where they missed 18 of 23 looks from the floor after cutting their deficit to five with 10 minutes left in the first half.